


Variety

by AngeliaDark



Category: Undertale
Genre: Angst, Chara's in control, Genocide Papyrus, so much hate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 22:45:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5683813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeliaDark/pseuds/AngeliaDark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chara was bored of the old song-and-dance.  They wanted variety.  But THIS was one thing they will never repeat, ever again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Variety

Even with infinite resets, options, and possibilities when their path was taken in this interesting game called life, variety was still something that was hard-pressed for Chara to come by.

It made things all the easier when Frisk's will became smothered under their influence, and when they could have all the fun themself. But reset after reset of having the same song and dance played over again and again, every once and awhile, Chara felt the need for something new.

It was with that in mind that, after patting Mom's dust from their shirt, they slipped a knife under their sleeve and headed out of the Ruins, unable to keep a giddy smile of anticipation off their lips as they heard the soft crunching of snow behind them, knowing that their variety was here.

At the bridge, they stopped, hearing the telltale sound of Sans walking up behind them. They felt him close by, practically feeling his breath down their neck.

"Human..." Sans said, Chara practically hearing the grin in his voice, "...dont you know how to greet a new pal? Turn arou-"

_SHUNK_

Oh, it was just GLORIOUS, seeing that stupid grin frozen on his face, the pale glows of white in his eyesockets shrunk to pinpricks in shock, his outstretched hand twitching as he tried to process the knife stuck between his fourth and fifth rib that was embedded into his soul. The pinpricks of light twitched up, locking onto Chara's eyes, an air of recognition wavering in them as the lights faded to nothing.

"The old knife-in-the-chest trick," Chara giggled, giving the blade a twist. "It's ALWAYS FUNNY." They pushed it in deeper when a flicker of blue began to appear in his left eyesocket. "Do yourself a favor, you idiot skeleton, and just die. You wouldn't want your stupid brother to watch you waste away, would you?"

Sans made a rattling, rasping sound, his hand managing to grasp the front of their shirt, his expression going dark. "...not...my...brother..." he growled, the blue of his left eye sparking before it went out, his body slumping down as it expired. His bones began turning to dust, and Chara managed to grasp a handful in their hand before it all blew away with the icy wind.

Oh yes, this was just perfect, Chara thought as they flexed their clenched hand, feeling the grit of dust sift around most satisfying indeed. Getting Sans out of the way first was definitely the way to go for this round!

"SANS! SANS, WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LAZYBONES!?"

And it just became more fun. Chara stayed in place, hearing Papyrus stalk closer, still calling angrily for Sans, keeping their back turned until they knew Papyrus had spotted them.

"Oh, hello there! I don't suppose you've seen my brother Sans around? That lazybones, he had better not be hiding and waiting to make a fool of me again!" A pause, an air of confusion. "...H...hello...? Did you not hear me? I said-"

Chara took that moment to turn around, smiling widely at Papyrus's baffled expression, just standing there and waiting for the infantile idiot to put two and two together. It was amusing, watching Papyrus look at them, then down at the blue coat left behind, and back again.

"...That...is my brother's coat..." Papyrus said slowly, walking over the bridge and up close to them, staring down at the coat. "...why would he be walking around without his coat?" He stared down harder, his hands flexing slightly as he saw the discoloration of dust that still clung to the blue cloth, and Chara could SEE the revelation dawn on the skeleton's face. "...is...is that...dust...?" he stammered. "...that...isn't possible..." He turned his head to Chara. "...who...did you...?"

Chara giggled, lifting their hand and opening their fingers, letting the dust sift through them. "Here's what's left of him," they said, beaming up at Papyrus. "We exchanged jokes...and you could say that I KILLED it." They laughed harder as Papyrus let out a strangled wail and dropped to his knees, turning the knife in their hand as they contemplated the skeleton in front of him.

It would be TOO easy to just kill the idiot now...what fun was that? This was the first time they've seen true despair on Papyrus's face, and they wanted to savor it. Yes, save him for last, let his despair fester until he was a blubbering, stupid-with-grief mess. He was no threat to them.

Holding the knife tightly in their hand, Chara gave Papyrus a sarcastic wave and headed onward to the next Monster, absently wondering how long it would take to do in Undyne this time.

Papyrus didnt even hear or see the human leave. All he could do was stare at his big brother's dusty coat that was lying limply in the snow, processing the truth that was in front of him.

His brother was dead. He had been killed.

Sans was here just half an hour ago...and now he was gone...

He reached down and took the coat in his hands, lifting it from the snow and letting out a strangled sob when more dust fell out from underneath, coating his front with what remained of his beloved brother. He pulled the coat to his chest, burying his face into it, his frame shaking with sobs.

"...Sans..." he whimpered, taking in the scent of ketchup and wood polish that was only used at Grillby's, a scent that was all Sans, and was once a comfort but was now nothing more than a memory. "...Sans...!" Nothing more than a memory, of his lazy smile and promises of no puns at dinnertime the last time they were together. "...Sans...!"

Although he was never bothered by the Snowdin weather, he felt a dense, heavy cold seep into his bones and through to his soul, feeling it be encased in ice, an ice that only his brother's smile could thaw now.

But he couldn't. Because he was dead.

"SANS!" Papyrus shouted into the cold air, hearing nothing but the wind push his voice back to him like a cruel reminder that his brother wasn't going to answer. "SANS! SANS! _SANS! SANS!_ _ **SANS! SANS! SANS!**_ "

The harder he screamed for his brother, the harder the ice in his soul became, the agony unbearable as terrifying reality set in.

He was alone.

Sans wasn't coming back.

Papyrus's body shook so hard his bones began to rattled, his breathing ragged and almost snarling as his hands clutched Sans's jacket tighter, anchoring him to the last remaining piece of his family. The harder he shook, the harder he struggled to breathe, the harder he tried to reign in his emotions, the more he felt his joy and sanity leave his soul.

The more he felt all the love he had for life and Snowdin and friendship and SANS...turn ugly at the thought of that small human smiling at him.

_What is this feeling? This cold so sharp it feels hot in my soul? This fire in my bones? What is this, Sans? Sans? SANS!_ _**SANS!** _

A crackling spark flared in his right eyesocket, the sensation painful and forced, but WANTED. The pain in his eyesocket pulsed in time with the convulsions in his soul, beating in tandem with every wrenched cry of his brother's name, filling his bones, his mind, his senses with SOMETHING...

_The thought of tearing that little beast to pieces fills you with_ ~~_**determination** _ ~~

_NO._

_...it fills you with_ _**HATE.** _

* * *

It had been a good time, and a much easier one, without Sans tailing them with retribution on his eye and having that 'sins crawling up your back' sensation. Dead, dead, everyone was dead, and it was GLORIOUS. It wasn't until they finally remembered Papyrus that they decided to double back to Snowdin and catch a glimpse of the younger skeleton brother before killing him.

Chara debated several ways of HOW. Decapitation was always a favorite, but that was getting old. A knife through the soul, ending his life like his brother's? A definite maybe. Or maybe Papyrus would still have that 'I still believe in you' spark they could exploit. Give him false hope and then tear it away again. Yes, that could be fun, and it would pan out this delicious experience even more!

However, after over an hour of searching in an abandoned Snowdin, Papyrus was nowhere in sight. There weren't even any footprints in the snow to track him down; the wind and snowfall had covered up everything. So Chara checked the brothers' house. It too was empty. So was the library, the store, Grillby's, the puzzle stations, everything.

Oh, it would be just disappointing if Papyrus had done himself in from grief! What would even the point of all this be! Ugh, if only they had stayed and played the 'I'm sorry I didn't mean to' card...

They still kept an eye out on their way to the castle, just in case, seeing nothing, but the closer they got to the end of their road, the more SOMETHING began to crawl up their back.

It wasn't their sins...it was something else. Something they couldn't shake, no matter what they told themselves. There was nobody else here to incite these feelings, so there should be no problem.

Chara entered the castle hall, their footsteps echoing around as familiarity began settling in. They looked around, almost as though they were savoring the moment, and then they began hearing footfalls that were not their own. They stopped in the middle of the hall, and footsteps ahead from the shadows of a pillar came closer.

From the shadow, they saw a soft orange light like luminescent smoke sifting from a single point that got closer and closer until the footsteps stopped just within the border of the shadow.

Silence.

Chara clenched the knife tighter in their hand, tipping their head in amused curiosity. "You can come out," they crooned softly. "No use even bothering to hide." Their facial muscles twitched slightly when a familiar laugh replied.

"Nyeh heh heh...who is hiding...? I was simply waiting for you, human."

The orange light flared brighter, illuminating a skeletal face from the shadow as Papyrus stepped out, eyelights locked onto Chara. Even with his body and clothes the same, he was almost unrecognizable. His posture was slumped like something was literally weighing him down, his bones looked like they had sharper edges, and that right eyesocket of his was filled with orange soul magic that Chara could almost FEEL. Around his shoulders was his brother's blue coat, tied securely by the sleeves. One of his hands was clasped around it at his neck, like he was keeping it anchored to his form.

The two stood there in silence for another moment before Papyrus spoke again.

"...You've killed...so many..." he said, his voice soft and heavy, sounding an octave lower than normal. His words were sluggish and almost slurred, like he was drunk off of his own grief. "...there are...so many things I can forgive, human...hateful words...things thrown at me in fear...you could spit on my face and I would laugh it off...because I want to understand why...why someone would hurt me...and what about themselves makes them so pained that they would want to hurt someone else."

He paused, his breath rattling softly, hand clenching tighter around the tied sleeves of the coat.

"...I could have forgiven the death of the Monsters, human...because even we lash out at what we don't understand, of what we fear, just to keep ourselves alive...but YOU..." His voice echoed around the hall, almost shaking the windows. "...YOU didn't have FEAR. YOU did it...for FUN."

Another long, thick silence.

"I can tell by your silence and your smile that I am correct, human. And for that, I will not forgive you. I will NEVER forgive you."

He lifted his head, streams of tears pouring out of both eyes, the soul magic in his right eye flickering brighter. "Human...do you know...what hatred feels like? TRUE hatred? Not born from fear or prejudice...but from being truly and utterly WRONGED?"

Chara sneered, baring their teeth in a mocking grin. "Maybe I do," they replied. "What're you gonna do about it then? Monologue to me all day? Cry about it? TRY to 'avenge' everyone down here? Either way, make up your mind because unlike your brother, you're doing nothing but wasting my time."

Papyrus stood there silently, the sound of soul magic and bones cracking echoing around the hall.

"I see," he said, holding out his hand and summoning a large bone into it. "...then let us see which of us has the greater hate."

"Whatever you say," Chara replied, clenching their knife and rushing forward.

* * *

This had been...a massive miscalculation.

Chara struggled to spit out the candy that had been shoved into their mouth, but a twist of the bone sticking out of their arm made them gasp and swallow it anyway. They heaved and coughed violently in an attempt to choke it back up, but feeling their wounds minimize and HP go back up let them know they were too late in THAT endeavor.

Just like the last fifteen times it happened.

They glowered hatefully up at the skeleton kneeling over them, briefly toying with the idea of spitting in the bastard's eyesocket, but already felt the retribution of THAT action, twice already. They settled instead with screaming abuse at the skeleton, growing more enraged at the lack of reaction his words incited. Not even bringing up every horrible thing they could think of concerning Sans brought up a reaction.

Papyrus simply remained kneeling over the human, waiting until they paused to take a breath before grabbing their left arm and slowly twisting it near the breaking point, making Chara choke back a yell of pain.

"FUCKER!" they screamed, thrashing as much as they could being partially pinned down by summoned bones. "YOU STUPID FUCKER! YOU CANT KEEP THIS UP FOREVER!" They growled when Papyrus paused the arm-twisting, baring blood-stained teeth at the skeleton. "Yeah, that's right, you idiot!" they continued. "Any minute now, you're either gonna run out of healing items or magic, and I'm going to get up and SEND YOU RIGHT TO HELL, WHERE YOU CAN BURN WITH YOUR FAT STUPID BROTHER FOREVER!"

They heaved for breath, the action labored and torturous, considering the bone that had skewered their lung moments ago before being healed, the hand clenched around their arm like a vice that still remained still. There was a pregnant silence for a few long moments.

And then the ruined hall echoed with the soft 'nyeh heh heh' of Papyrus's laughter.

Papyrus stared down at the demonlike child, the orange soul magic in his eye flickering with his laughter, but never dimming despite the hours he had been at this; bringing the human to the brink of death, only to heal them and start over from scratch. Despite his stoic expression during the entire ordeal, small rivers of tears had continued to fall down his face, and they continued to do so even now.

"STOP LAUGHING!" Chara screamed, thrashing harder, the summoned bone that stuck their other arm to the floor making a cracking squelching sound as it moved. "STOP IT, YOU STUPID FUCK! STOP IT!"

Papyrus stopped, his expression far from amused or even angry. He stared down at the human, his grip on their arm slackening slightly.

"...I'm sorry, human..." he said, his voice so soft Chara almost couldnt hear it through his labored gasps for breath. "Oh...not for all this, goodness no...I'm sorry for laughing when there is nothing funny about what I am feeling..."

His head rose, staring off at nothing. "...I just...finally understand you, human...I understand feeling a hatred so deep and so thick, you cant feel anything else. I understand how EASY it was to kill everyone like you did, simply because you were stronger than them." His head lowered again, his gaze pinning to theirs, his grip tightening around their arm again, twisting slowly, the bone in their arm straining.

"I understand, wanting to EXPRESS this hatred, in the form of causing PAIN...hoping...PRAYING...WANTING...someone else to feel just as ROTTEN as you do..."

Chara clenched their jaw so tightly a tooth began to crack in their mouth, not wanting to give the skeleton the satisfaction of hearing them scream. The sound and feeling of their bone giving way an snapping broke their resolve, a piercing scream echoing through the hall.

Papyrus let them scream, his hand tightening around the arm, feeling the snapped bone beneath his own hand, having discarded his gloves long ago in lieu of wanting to feel everything himself.

"Human...I only wish I could have spared you this pain...just as I wish someone would spare ME of this pain...!" Fresh tears poured down his face as he dropped the broken arm onto the floor. "...if I could do this all over again, human...I would offer you a way out of this AGONY...I would SAVE you, human!"

He brushed his fingertips over Chara's face, cupping the bruised, bloody head in his hands. "I would give you my love and friendship, human...before you would BURN with all of this HATRED...this is not a pain...I would wish on ANYONE..."

Papyrus trailed off, his expression going blank for a moment before he sat up, holding out his hand and summoning a clublike bone into it.

"...But I cannot change the past, human...I can only let myself burn now...to make you fell my HATRED. To make you feel the pain that pulses in my soul that is now HOLLOW because my brother is not there to fill it!"

He raised the bone in his hand, his voice hitching with sobs. "Until my magic or my healing items are gone...you will suffer my hatred, human! It is my GIFT to you! SO YOU WILL CHANGE! SO YOU WILL DIE WITH REGRET IN YOUR SOUL, AND BEG ME, MY BROTHER, AND EVERYONE ELSE, FOR FORGIVENESS!" His right eye flared brightly.

"...Only then, human...will I FINALLY forgive you."

He brought the bone down hard, again and again and again and again and again and again and again...

* * *

_Finally._

_At LAST._

_ERASE._

_ERASE._

_ERASE._

_**ERASE.** _

_**ERASE!** _

_**ERASE!** _

_**ERASE!** _

… _ **...**_ _'A note to myself. DO NOT EVER. KILL SANS FIRST.'_


End file.
